Essay On Indian Stereotypes

1308 Words6 Pages

With the advancement of our technological innovation, media have become part of our lives. The absolute trust in media encourages people to no longer analyze the situation and to quickly make assumptions based on what they saw or heard. Mass media abuses the power they gained by spreading stereotypes through targeting television shows. The unjust and widely held stereotypical belief of a certain gender, culture, belief, and race promotes biased social perceptions. One of the minority groups that are the common victim of stereotypes portrayed in television shows is Indians. Some films and shows that portray Indian stereotypes included the character Apu in Family Guy, Raj in The Big Bang Theory, Dr. Cliff Patel in Silver Linings Playbook, and …show more content…

The complexity of Indian culture is often ignored and inadequately categorized into a group of replica with no distinctiveness. Indians are frequently labeled as nerdy, "West Indians", idiotic goofballs, poor, submissive, and the “forever foreigner”. This inappropriate identification of various Indians from different regions often prompts Americans and Europeans to confuse its subcategories of Native Americans, South Asians, and West Indies. Failure of the media to understand the groups’ behaviors and doings constructs a distorted view of reality. In my essay, I am going to explain stereotypes of Indians from South Asia, which are a southern region of the Asian continent, in a television show. The Disney television series named Jessie produced between 2011 and 2015 serves as an example of a show that portrays Indian stereotypes. This show revolves around a young woman named Jessie Prescott and showcases her challenges while being a nanny for the wealthy Ross family in a multi-million dollar penthouse. Jessie takes on the responsibilities of taking care of Ross’ biological daughter, Emma, and three adopted children, Luke, Zuri, and Ravi in the absence of their jet-setting parents, Morgan and Christina

Open Document